It’s that Redmond has managed to cease being a byword for the worst unpleasantnesses that the tech world can offer.

Step forward, Google and Facebook. The ugly box is all yours. Microsoft is enjoying an image makeover, while you babble blessed nothings in front of clueless politicians and become the symbols of youthful indiscretion, hubris, and Juul-puffing ignorance.

It’s not easy to point to one thing that propelled Microsoft around the corner. Some might say the intelligence of understanding the cloud showed the way. Some will point to the wily acquisitions of LinkedIn — quite the worst $50 I spend every month — and GitHub as proving that Microsoft has shed its crudely rapacious image.

No, it’s not remotely as strong as the Mac — or, for that matter, Xbox — but the fact that Surface has gained some independence and credibility bodes well for Redmond’s own stature as a remarkable survivor and a company that can connect with real people, without (entirely) annoying them to high heaven.

Apple managed to connect with real people with an unseemly effortlessness for decades.

Apple store employees still chuckle about the fact their store is always full and the Microsoft store down the mall is emptier than a troll’s head.

It hasn’t, though, been a year of uncontrolled triumphs for Cupertino.

It’s almost entertaining that these two companies should somehow come out on top, when you might imagine both could have been usurped and crushed by some newcomers helmed by arrogant boys with attitude.

They must know what they’re doing, at least to some extent.

Which means they might even know what they’re going to do next year to keep it going. While Facebook and Google are gouged at by politicians out for a little public blood.